400/250 Watt MH/HPS Ballast or 315 Watt CMH?

[SlurmsMckenzie]

Hi there,

I'm attempting to follow along with one of the tutorials posted on the Grow Weed Easy website

https://www.growweedeasy.com/250w-hps-beginner-tutorial

I had a few questions and wanted to get some advice.

I've never fully grown a mature marijuana plant, usually due to space constraints and heat issues.

This time I opted to go with a 2' x 4' x 6' grow tent (link below) and I'm hoping this allows me to deal with these problems a little better.

https://www.amazon.ca/BloomGrow-16x16x48-Hydroponic-Reflective-Waterproof/dp/B074H6G95M/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2UKQZENJ8RS54&keywords=2x4%2Bgrow%2Btent&qid=1564626169&s=gateway&sprefix=2%2Bx%2B4%2Bgr%2Caps%2C277&sr=8-5&th=1

I just received some Barneys Farm Pineapple Express Autoflower seeds that I've placed in a glass of pH'd water to start the germination process.

My main question is what you'd recommend for a suitable light, after some research it seems like rather then dealing with inconsistent budget LED lights I'm leaning towards HID lighting.

It's hard to source an actual 250 Watt HPS like in the tutorial but the next closest thing seems to be the 400/250/150 Watt Dimmable HPS like this

https://www.amazon.ca/VIVOSUN-Hydroponic-Digital-Dimmable-Ballast/dp/B00P8P50G6/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=400+watt+hps&qid=1564626449&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFLQjU5Sjk1OVhMUlAmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAxMjQxOTAyQVJHMUFSNDNCM1VDJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4MjE3MDkyTVIzSE5FWjNHMkQ2JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Like I said before, anytime I've grown I've been in a constant battle with extreme heat and I'm looking to avoid that if possible.

Do you think if I ran a 6" fan and filter combo/ air cooled hood I could achieve a comfortable growing environment?

There's a used 315 Watt CMH I can get locally and save a couple bucks on but that won't be an air cooled option. Would this still be viable?

Thanks for you help and all the useful tutorials!

[MJTECH]

https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-HollandBasics-Starter-Digital-Reflector/dp/B078J9B6FP/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3EBO35PQI3UK9&keywords=250+watt+mh+hps+ballast&qid=1564669030&s=gateway&sprefix=250+watt+mh%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-7

MJ

[s62]

I’d be careful buying used lights. No telling how many hours are on the bulb.

[MJTECH]

I’d be careful buying used lights. No telling how many hours are on the bulb.

There is nothing wrong with used fixtures as long as they have magnetic ballasts, as for bulbs they really don't matter as they are dirt cheap.

[MJTECH]

Standard MH bulbs are very inexpensive and are available in a number of color temperatures.

[FatBoy40]

I have a 600W MH but never purchased a bulb for it. So I don't know bulb prices. Purchased CMH I feel that $107 is fairly inexpensive for the hours(they claim ) you get out of them.

[MJTECH]

You can get some very good bulbs for very little money, USHIO is one of the largest manufacturers of bulbs serving the North American commercial growers market, their HiLUX GRO series is considered the gold standard for indoor growing.

What everyone wants to avoid are Chinese knockoff's and any bulb that is not provided with a spectrum chart and a MMOL/S, not lumens rating.

[MJTECH]

There is nothing wrong with used fixtures as long as they have magnetic ballasts, as for bulbs they really don't matter as they are dirt cheap.

A standard 600 watt MH with a 10,000 hour run time will run you about $25-$30.


Now keep in mind with MH you don't want to run the bulb until it's dead, you want to run it to 80% of it's rating and then replace it, running until the end of life is rough on the starter which will cost you about $15 if it burns up.

[Obi-Wan]

You certainly can get MH & HPS bulbs at cheap prices but to say the bulbs don’t matter is missing the forest for the trees. I run an Apollo ballast and for my first grow I used their cheap Apollo bulb, my results were disappointing to say the least. I switched to a more expensive Hortilux bulb for my very next grow and the results were night and day.

I agree with your greater point that a used fixture is fine, so long as it is functional, but the bulbs definitely matter and you get what you pay for with bulbs. I would rather go cheap on the fixture and invest the savings into the bulb.

[FatBoy40]

Here are the boxes from my bulbs $107 each PAR PRO